Close Facebook, Twitter, and your email when you are working on your blog. It’s distracting to have all of these sites open when trying to write. This one might take some getting used to but I promise it will help you manage your time better.

Now it’s time to move beyond the computer screen and switch our focus to the realm of handheld devices.

Have you ever used your cell phone to read a blog post?

Have you ever used your cell phone to leave a comment on a blog post?

Have you ever been so frustrated trying to do something on a blog from your phone that you closed the web browser app and swore to never visit that site again?

Do you spend more time on your phone than you do on your computer?

My guess is, if you are a blogger, you answered yes to at least 2 of these questions (I answered yes to all 4, what does that say about me? Nevermind, I don’t want to know the answer).

It’s no secret that mobile devices such as iPhones and Androids are taking over the world and that people are more likely to have a cell phone glued to their hand than to be staring at a laptop screen.

What does this mean for you as a blogger? Well…it means that you need to pay attention to your mobile audience and how your site looks when they click on that Twitter link you sent out for your latest post.

WordPress.org Blogs

Responsive Themes

For those of you that have not heard of a responsive theme, it can be defined as “a flexible foundation with fluid grid system that adapts your website to any mobile devices and the desktop or any other viewing environment” according to WordPress.org.

That boring definition is basically saying that a responsive theme will automatically adjust your site based on what the reader is using to view your site. So, if they are on a computer they will see the full site. If they are on a cell phone, the site will automatically adjust to a mobile-friendly version.

Blogger

The directions seem easy to follow but I’ll let you be the judge of that.

So, what are you waiting for? Optimize your site for mobile viewing right now and make your readers very happy because we all want happy readers who are so happy they send you freshly baked chocolate chip cookies with no nuts (hint, hint).

Keeping It Easy.

You want your readers to be able to immediately find out more about you, connect with you, to search your site, and more with just a click or two.

Don’t make them play the “find the email address” game because most won’t. They will give up, move on, and you will have lost the chance to make that important connection with a reader (or a brand).

So, here are 5 (ish) tips to help you keep your site easy (because easy is good).

Navigation

Since there is no way to have GPS tell us directions to the pages on your blog, you need some sort of navigation for your readers. Luckily, there are these things called navigation bars that are perfect for this. You can add pages to them, create drop down menus (if needed), and give people access to many pages with just a few clicks.

Reminder, make sure the fonts and colors used in your nav bar are easy for people to read.

Also, make sure that your navigation bar doesn’t get people lost. If I click the home tab, it better take me to the home page.

Search

Every site should have search options, at the very least a search box. I would recommend also using a tag cloud or a list of categories along with a drop down selection of your archived posts.

About

Speaking of searching, don’t make me scour your site to find an about page. Put it in your nav bar so that I can immediately find it when I want to know more about you. (If you aren’t sure what to put on your about page, check out this post on how to make your about page awesome.)

Contact / Connect

I found this great blog, I want to connect with the blogger on Twitter and send them an email. Wait, I can’t find their email address or any connect buttons. Oh well, guess I’ll go somewhere else.

For the Twitter button, add your Twitter handle in the settings (if possible for your blog) so that when someone tweets out your posts you are notified and can thank them.

Bonus – Word Verification

I couldn’t leave this post without mentioning word verification. There is nothing easy about having to figure out what those squiggly letters are, especially when I’m on a mobile device. Turn off the captcha and make your readers happy to leave a comment.

There you have it folks. Follow these tips and you are well on your way to having a site that readers will love to visit.

Your site is no good UNLESS it is friendly for your readers to both look at and to use.

It’s not all about those posts that you put your heart and soul into.

Yes, those posts are extremely important and you should continue to put your all into them. But you also need to step back sometimes and look at your site from the point of view of your readers.

So, I’m here to give you some tips on how to make your sites user friendly for your readers starting with today’s post, which is all about design.

You’re welcome.

When it comes to the design of your site, you want it to be inviting for visitors, to reflect you and your brand, as well as direct people to what you want them to focus on (your blog posts, products you are selling, etc.)

The possibilities really are endless when it comes to blog designs but here are a few things to keep in mind when designing your site so that it is friendly for your readers:

Colors

There are millions of colors to choose from on the color wheel and some are good for web design and others, well they look better on the color wheel.

Light and bright colors aren’t always the best because they can be hard to read. Please pay attention to this for your hyperlink color. I see so many that are difficult to read and it takes away from your writing and hurts your chances of getting people to read your past posts.

Same with white font on black backgrounds (seriously, don’t ever do that. I’ll leave your site in an instant because it hurts my eyes).

Some color examples…

Can you read this?

Or is this better?

How about this one?

Or do your eyes like this better?

Lesson learned, pick colors that don’t hurt your readers eyes.

Fonts

I am an admitted font junkie. I love downloading new fonts to my computer and confusing myself as I look through them all trying to find one font for a picture.

But, let’s be honest, some fonts just don’t belong on websites. Some are too pixely (is that a word? whatever, it is now), some are too loopy, and some are just too ugly (maybe that’s too honest).

To see some font examples click on the links (they will open in a new page, so don’t worry):

Lesson learned, have fun with fonts on your site but make sure people can read the words.

Header Image

The very first thing people usually notice on blog sites is the header image. This is your chance to wow people and to draw them in immediately but your header should NOT be so large that it consumes the whole computer screen and requires a person to scroll down to find your posts.

Try to keep the header image size to 300 pixels or less for height whenever possible and be sure to use all of the space in your header image (if you have blank space, maybe you can make the header image smaller).

Free from distractions

This one is easy…

No Music.

Also, try not to have too many rotating ads and/or images on your site. It really draws attention away from your posts and it can be annoying.

So, there you have it. 4 design tips on how to make your blog site user friendly.

Stay tuned next week for the second post in this series on how to keep your site easy for readers to use.

The next page on your blog I want to talk about is the blogroll, or the list of your favorite blogs to read.

A blogroll page is a good idea to have because it tells your readers who you like to read and it also gives SEO link love to your favorite blogs.

In order to make your blogroll user friendly for your readers, here are a few ideas for you.

Keep it short

Keep the list of blogs to 10 or less. I know you probably read way more blogs than this but pick out your top 10 favorite blogs and only link to those. Anymore than 10 blogs and it can be overwhelming for people to go through your blogroll.

Categorize the blogs

If you notice that some of the blogs are similar in terms of what they write about then you can categorize them. For example. if you have 3 or 4 blogs that are funny, put a header title saying “The Funny” or “Be Prepared to Laugh” and then list the humor blogs under that category.

Tell why

In one to two sentences tell your readers what you love about each blog on your blogroll. Whether it’s the photography, the recipes, the words, etc. explain why you think others should also visit the blog.

Link to your favorite post

Find that blog post from each site that really drew you in and made you fall in love with the blog and put a link to it on your blogroll. This not only helps that blogger with SEO but it will also help showcase what you enjoy about the blog.

Add a picture or a button

For each blog, either put that blogger’s profile picture or their blog button on your blogroll page. Images help draw people in and they will help break up the text on your blogroll page.

Be sure to update your blogroll every few weeks or so as blog’s change and so does your list of top 10.